SearchCap: The Day In Search, August 6, 2009

Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.

From Search Engine Land:

• Google Shifts Search Ads Closer To Free Results
  

  James Carswell noticed that Google, on some browsers, has shifted the search ads on the right hand side of the search results page, closer to the free (organic) results. I personally was able to replicate this change, by comparing Firefox to Safari and posted a video illustrating the change. In the video below, you will [...]

• Guess Who Is The Top Global Brand Again? You Got It! Google
  

  Millward Brown released their top “BrandZ” report for 2009 (PDF) and Google has top the list, once again. The main difference this year is that Google’s “brand value” is up 16%, from $86 billion to $100 billion this year. Here is a chart of the top ten global brands by Millward Brown:

  Microsoft ranks number [...]

• Link Economics 101: A Prerequisite For Advanced SEO
  

  Links long ago became the currency of the Web, thanks in no small part to Google and its PageRank algorithm. Like anything of value, link authority is bought, sold, leased, bartered, brokered, swindled and stolen. The fact that links are valuable is widely accepted. But yet when pressed, can any SEO or link builder really [...]

• Is Searching For Porn Too Easy With Bing?
  

  Microsoft’s new Bing search engine has its own unique approach to video search which has engendered both praise and pans. Perhaps the most remarked upon feature is the mouse hover over a thumbnail of a video and Bing will play 30 seconds of the clip with sound. It has already been noted that this feature [...]

• Marissa Mayer On iGoogle’s New “Social Gadgets”
  

  This morning Google is rolling out a program in Australia enabling developers to create “social gadgets” that permit sharing, collaboration and groups on the iGoogle homepage. The social gadgets will come to the US and other markets in the future, but the timing is undetermined. I spoke yesterday with Google’s Marissa Mayer about the new [...]

Search News From Around The Web:

Business Issues

• Media buyer claims News Corp preparing to sue Google, Yahoo over news services, Inquisitr.com

Local, Maps & Mobile

• Google Maps confirms Bulk Upload Whitelist Program for LBC, Mike Blumenthal
• Google Maps Helps Colorblind See Traffic, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google set to take on Apple in China, FT.com
• Qik for Android gets video editing, “Speed sharing”, MobileCrunch

Link Building

• New Link Checker to Research Local Links: Inlink Check, Search Engine Journal

Paid Search & Contextual

• Google Affiliate Network Publishers Must Link Accounts To Google Account By September 21st, Search Engine Roundtable
• Site maintenance on Saturday, August 8, Inside AdSense

Searching

• Google Custom Search Engine Now Working On Drupal Again, Search Engine Roundtable
• Google Images Takes Searchers In Circles, Search Engine Roundtable

SEM Industry

• The Bing Jingle Winner is…, Bing Community
• Aug 2009 Top SEM SEO Blogs By RSS Subscribers, Online Marketing Blog
• Eric Enge interviews Oyster’s Eytan Seidman, Stone Temple

SEO & SEM

• Building SEO into the Development Process, SEOmoz
• Advanced Q&A from (the appropriately-named) SMX Advanced, Official Google Webmaster Central Blog
• Bing Search August 2009 Update, Search Engine Roundtable
• Instabilities in Google?, David Naylor
• Interview: AOL’s Simon Heseltine on Reputation Management, Search Engine Guide
• Shipping Attribute now available for Germany, Google Base Blog
• Sitemaps and Internal Links – the 10000 Page Test, Search Engine Journal

Social Media

• Facebook Adds New Way to Share Web Content Without Leaving the Page, Inside Facebook
• In-Depth Look at the 5% of Most Active Twitter, Sysomos
• Dear Microsoft, Stop Trying To Be Funny., outspokenmedia.com